I have gotten several complaints from players who tell me their opponent claims to have accidentally declined a game on which the first and only move was a huge BINGO (all letters used). I have always encouraged these players to take the high road and agree to start over. However, I get this complaint quite regularly now, and I think some players might be using the Decline button as a way to get out of a game that began with a huge lead for their opponent.

Since we never know a person’s motives for a decline (or whether there was any motive at all), we can’t assume that unfair advantage is always at heart. Regardless, there has to be some protection for players who have great openers. This will probably be address through a rule change. Here’s what I’m considering…

RULE: If a player declines the game at any point, the declined player has choice of the following options:

Claim the declined game as an automatic victory.

Agree to play a new game while observing a handicap (equal to the lead in the declined game) in favor of the aggrieved player.

Agree to play a new game with no handicap.

With this rule in place, we might be a little more careful around that “Decline” button.

By the way, the “Resign” button can be used similarly in games that aren’t going so well.

Another potential ruse: “I don’t see your game, or I can’t accept challenges, so I always need to make the first move.” This last one is easily defeated because that player can always pass the first move.

22 Responses to ““Oops! I Declined Your 60+ BINGO Opener!””

I just accidentally hit decline on a HUGE word and I feel terrible! Still don’t know how it happened and I’m sure my opponent doesn’t believe its an accident! This really irritates me because I’m one to let people win! Aaaahhhhhhhh

I can’t even count how many games the app has declined for me. I’m getting really tired of it and so are my opponents. I try to be fair and let them start the match over, and I have even skipped turns until they achieved the initial score they began with on the game that was declined. That is not a valid solution though. Why can’t the challengee reopen the match? That seems a viable solution for times when the game itself is declining the game. Or an even better solution is a simple pop-up that asks if you are sure you want to decline the game. I’m very frustrated that I have accidental declined games much more frequently than accepted them, and it’s because of a glitch in the app that no matter where you touch. It declines. Just give me a second chance to accept. That’s all I want.

This post sucks!!! Since my last update I have REGULARLY been clicking to accept a new game someone has started with me and it quickly shoots me back to main screen. When I look to see what happened to the game its got declined by it. The first time, I thought i accidentally did it. But after that I saw what was up. It wssnt me! I wasnt even able to see the word yet it just shot me straight to decline. So before not believing that there is a glitch in this system and thinking this many people are doing it on purpose maybe yall should check into it!!

I get lots of requests from people, and sometimes I don’t always WANT to play. Yet, if I decline, I lose the game! This is just as unfair as people “accidentally” declining big leads. The only fair solution is for both players to agree to start a game prior to ANY tiles being laid out.

The handicap is a good option, but I would also add it is way too easy to decline a game. On the Android app, if you click on anything other than the “Accept” button, literally ANYTHING else, it declines the game. For the last game request I had, I shifted my phone in my had and my hand touched the edge of the screen: game declined. Once that gets fixed, the “accidental declines,” at least the honest ones, should decline immensely. There should also be a window of a few days where the game can be reactivated.

Simple solution, add an extra move at the beginning:
1. first player chooses an opponent and asks to begin a new game (no play is made, no letters show)
2. second player is notified of the new game request, and chooses to play or not play (no play is made, no letters show)
3. NOTE: if second player accepts, one WILL win, one WILL lose. And if second player declines, that is their right, without being forced to lose.

This eliminates the unfair advantage that people you don’t wish to play have in forcing you to play, forcing you to lose, or spamming you with a denial of service attack by starting too many games.

A few other thoughts:
I now have had a “decline” two rounds in a row. During the last round, my opponent, Forest, didn’t actually “decline”, but, rather, the WWF app froze and declined by itself, just as he was about to put down a forty point word. There were a lot of reasons why I chose to believe him without question. Without hesitation, I told him that we will ADD the forty points onto HIS score, which we did. He is an outstanding player with an obvious set of ethics. In a previous reply, I was fairly adamant AGAINST giving the opponent the benefit of the doubt. This gentleman reminded me what most players are all about. I needed that…. And taking the “high road” when we can. That’s what the game is about.

At this point, the handicap idea, the way that grizzgrazz described it seems fair……IF we suspect otherwise.

How about giving the “accidental” decliner the choice, lose the game altogether or give the handicap. Either way we all have to suffer the consequences of our accidental moves. This past round I accidentally kept the letters I intended to swap and swapped the letters I wanted to keep. Twice in the same game! Frustrating, but no one to blame but myself.

Literally I did that in the opening round of the current tourney. Or sure I say my daughter climbed on my lap and declined the game. I chatted my opponent, apologizing profusely, and told him to just start new games until he had a similar open. He started, and resigned 17 games before he finally got another big open. He ended up winning that game and taking the tiebreaker before moving on.

It happened to me yesterday. My opponent declined “by accident”. One other excellent player had this happen to her as well during the sixth round of the last tournament. Unfortunately, more than likely directly related, she lost the round. In tournament competition, we want to extend our courtesy and take the “high road” when we can. However, at some point we need take responsibility for our decisions and moves. We also need to limit any potential exploitation some people of questionable character might attempt to impose. Very simply, whether it is a true “accident” or not, the person hit the eight ball in the pocket out of order: game over. I am inclined to keep the rule simple: any person who declines (for whatever reason) loses. Only one opinion, but evidently, this problem is evidently more widespread than we might know. We don’t want to put a damper on an otherwise fun tournament with a lot of good-natured people, but as Bloggermark says, “Where to Begin?”

I think the handicap decision is perfect. Screenshot necessary of course. The pass option on your second issue is a good idea as well, but as I loathe starting I really dont see the problem. 9 times out of 10 I lose the game I start lol.

I’ve had this happen to me twice, where my opponent “declines” when I had a very large bingo on the first turn. It is rather annoying (I wasn’t even given an excuse the second time it happened, my opponent just ignored my questions about the decline), but in the end it’s just a game so I’ve always let it go without an argument.

However, in both cases I went on to win the game my opponent re-started. Perhaps if that “decline” had resulted in my losing the game and being eliminated from the tournament, I would’ve been quite unhappy…so its good to know I have this option in the future!

I also like the idea of a handicap game. If there were one of the few trying to get out of a game where their opponent started with a big word, then they’ll think twice before doing it again. You’d run the risk of having to start a new game down the 60 points, or whatnot, PLUS whatever they open with in the new game.

i like the idea of an automatic win, or handicap games. People shouldn’t just be allowed to make a game not count just because they were down early. By handicap do you mean play a new game with an “imaginary” lead equal to the bingo amount?

Re: “Ruse” of saying you didn’t get the game so you can start. That happened to me in both Round 1 and Round 2 where my opponent said they started the first game with me. I never got those games. As a matter of fact the Round 1 opponent says that it is still on her queue. So I don’t think it is fair to assume that a player is using that as an excuse to go first! The remedy of “passing” the first play is certainly an option.